


A Hopeful Heart

by Spiria



Category: Tales of Legendia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 07:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/720533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiria/pseuds/Spiria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Chapter 5] Walter meets with Stella under extraordinary circumstances, where their differing judgments on the Merines clash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hopeful Heart

**Author's Note:**

> For Pain, who provided the prompt: Walter and Stella, her sudden revival.
> 
> Spoilers up to mid-chapter 5.

When he returned to the Village of the Ferines with Fenimore’s body, he was alone and a bloody mess.

By the time he finished laying her ashes over the grass, he’d noticed the additional presence watching from behind.

“You and I are the only ones here now. The others have gone to the Palace,” he said, standing.

Turning his head, he saw Stella eyeing Fenimore’s grave. There was no marker, what with time constraints, but she would have a tablet with her name erected soon enough; or perhaps not at all, if everything went according to plan and the first tidal wave swept her ashes away, returning what remained of Fenimore Xelhes to the massive embrace of Nerifes. It was the most she deserved.

In spite of this desirable fortune, Stella strode past Walter and knelt by the grass.

“I hope she has a marker soon,” she said, hand hovering above the scattered ashes. “No one should forget what she’s done. She was brave to the end."

Walter gritted his teeth.

“Your marker didn’t stop Gadoria from forgetting your contributions during the war.”

Gaze still trained on the ashes blending with the greenery, Stella shook her head.

“But I’m alive.”

“So is Senel.”

And he’d been awarded a medal.

“That’s how I’d rather things be,” Stella explained. She rose and faced Walter, her expression impassive but maternal. “It’s better off that I don’t meddle with the situation anymore. It would only cause everyone more pain.”

It was no lie that Stella Telmes had perished shortly after stopping the Nerifes Cannon’s second blast. The drain it had caused her, as well as the destruction of her teriques, ensured her death with crushing finality, and not even a dozen Tears of the Sea could have salvaged her tattered soul. She had died, and a grave had been erected in her quiet honor while Gadoria had gone and conveniently forgotten her mercy.

Walter had found her two weeks later in the dead of night, when she’d raised a finger to her lips to plead his silence. Since then, only he was aware of the miraculous resurrection, and it was he who had taken measures to hide her away from the world that had forsaken her. It angered him to think it, knowing that Stella’s love for people was immense to the point of nigh foolishness: She had, after all, given her first life for Orerines when they’d long repaid her kindness with suffering. To the end, she had died looking after other people, and not herself.

It was that immeasurable kindness that kept his tongue in check. Kindness without ulterior motive couldn’t be faulted. It was also unnecessary to speak when she knew well what his thoughts were.

“You know, you’re very honest. This must have been hard on you from the beginning,” she’s said to him on a peaceful day, when she’d paused before continuing: “But I’m glad that it was you I met first.”

He hadn’t (and still didn’t) understand why in the world she would be glad for a meaningless existence, so he’d left without a word.

More often than not, their conversations were strained—tense, due to their blatantly clashing opinions of almost everything when current world events made the Orerines and Ferines the constant subjects of debate. While Stella was fairly garrulous, it was still much like talking to a pot. She was as gentle and strict as a mother, truly: She never backed down, not even once, often to his annoyance.

Now, he regarded her with the faintest curiosity.

“So you would allow the Merines to wipe out the Orerines in silence? Once that happens, there will be nowhere for you to hide.”

Stella slowly looked up to the sky, more in wistful thought than deep cogitation, and answered: “No. I don’t think that’ll happen.”

“What?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t think it’ll happen. Shirley is the Merines.”

“It’s because she’s the Merines that the Cataclysm will happen,” Walter pressed.

“And it’s because she’s Shirley that I know the Cataclysm can’t happen. It won’t.” She closed her eyes, sighing inwardly. “I know that’s not how you want it to go, but that’s how it’ll be, Walter.”

Stella stood as still as the tree behind her, unfazed by his gesture or bloody appearance as Walter tensed and thrust an accusatory finger forward. She’d taken a hammer to an unyielding force, but she, too, was adamant in her beliefs and would fight his in this. She had made that resolve long before she’d entered the deserted village after him.

“How can you be so sure? You abandoned your sister,” he accused.

“I know I did,” said Stella sternly. “And I entrusted her to Senel. Out of all of us, he’s the one who’ll never abandon her.”

She saw the effect her words had on him through the flicker in his visible eye. His trademark anger dominated his visage with the creasing of his brows and downturn of the corner of his lips; and for someone normally expressionless, it was a loud indication of his feelings. Somewhere beneath the rage, Stella thought, must be an ache where she’d struck low to pave the way for truth.

Walter seethed, his mind fleetingly lingering on Fenimore’s death.

“Why? Why Senel?”

Calmer by comparison, Stella answered evenly: “Because she trusts him. That trust will guide her out of her loneliness, and it’ll be after that that she’ll understand how her powers should be used.”

“That power has long been meant to be used for what you’re denying now,” Walter replied shortly. “It is the will of Nerifes.”

“As the will of the sea, Nerifes can think. Shirley’s salvation will prove to Nerifes that the same can be done for the Orerines and Ferines—together.”

“It’s because of the Orerines that the Merines suffers!”

“She suffers because everyone treats her as the Merines!” Stella rebutted. Then she calmed, again, finding the volume inappropriate before Fenimore’s resting place, and said: “I want you to think about it, Walter.

“Shirely has never stood on equal ground with everyone else. Even before the Orerines came into touch with her, her existence was a lonely one. And despite our relationship, I did nothing for her there. I helped give her that scar, and it’s a regret I’ve had to live with since regaining consciousness.

“That’s why I trust Shirley with Senel. He’ll see past her title. That’s what Shirley needs; she doesn’t need anyone’s protection.”

She ended her subdued tirade and stood her ground. She observed his reaction.

It was not as immediate as his escalating anger from before, but he was quick to turn away regardless, his cape fluttering behind him. Though it was not unusual for Walter to walk out on her, she knew that once he did so now, he would never return for as long as he did not forgive her transgressions. She had gravely wounded his pride, and she prepared herself for the consequence.

With a hopeful heart, Stella accepted his exit from her lonesome existence. But hope was no longer hers for the keeping, so she lived out the rest of her life alone, for Walter never came back.


End file.
